The present invention relates in general to the storage of nuclear fuel elements and more particularly to the arrangement of racks for the storing of spent nuclear fuel elements in a pool for a nuclear power plant.
Heretofore, racks for spent nuclear fuel elements were placed side-by-side in a pool. Thus, a considerable amount of floor space was required. However, the delay in the availability of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants have presented the problem to nuclear power plants of being able to transport the spent fuel elements to a reprocessing plant. When a reactor is refueled, the spent fuel elements are stored in the spent fuel storage pool of a nuclear power plant. Spent fuel storage pools for the nuclear power plant have been designed to store one full reactor core plus one or two reloads of nuclear fuel elements. It is desirable to always maintain enough space in the spent fuel storage pool to unload the full reactor core. Generally, this would leave space for only one or two reloads of nuclear fuel elements. A nuclear power plant should have sufficient space for the spent nuclear fuel elements to enable the nuclear power plant to keep operating and refueling until it is possible to transport spent nuclear fuel elements to a reprocessing plant.